First, we wrote about how People magazine embedded their 2012 “Sexiest Man Alive” issue into last night’s episode of Don’t Trust the B— in Apartment 23. Then, we wondered if a November 3 scoop by gossipcop.com “top cop” Michael Lewittes might hex Channing Tatum and prompt the magazine to opt for someone else. Today, with Tatum still strutting his stuff on the cover, we’re debating if mention of the actor in last night’s episode might have had something to do with the magazine’s decision to stick with the 32-year-old actor.

Lewittes’ SMA advance reveal was a huge media scoop, the latest in a long line of solidly vetted exclusives published by the three-year-old New York-based website. “We’ve had a number of scoops,” Lewittes tells FishbowlLA via telephone. “For instance, when no one even had Jennifer Lopez or Steven Tyler for American Idol, we went with it. Everyone thought we were crazy, and when it was announced a couple of weeks later, they realized we were right.”

Adding insult to injury, Gossip Cop posted the Tatum cover at 6:45 a.m. ET this morning, about an hour ahead of people.com, after grabbing a copy at a local newsstand. All in all, we’re pretty sure Lewittes’ nickname around the hallways of the magazine is nothing close to “magic Mike.”

While Lewittes’ SMA scoop will likely not hurt the bottom line of this annual cash-cow issue, it probably has People already figuring out ways to even more tightly lock down the SMA information flow next fall.

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